The military coup launched four years ago has brought untold suffering to the people of Myanmar.

The Feb. 1, 2021, power grab by army chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing plunged the country into nationwide armed conflict. Torching of villages by junta forces, indiscriminate air strikes and stomach-churning atrocities have become commonplace. The U.N. says civilian deaths spiked 50% in the year up to June 2024.

But the conflict has also wounded the military.

Like Myanmar’s democracy and its economy, the standing of the military – which has long been the nation’s most powerful institution – lies in ruins. By some estimates, it now controls less than half of a country it once dominated with an iron fist.

It has faced unprecedented casualties from fighting with myriad rebel groups. Based on published claims from ethnic armies and people’s defense forces, more than 24,000 junta troops have been killed and 12,000 wounded.

Day by day for the past four years, RFA Burmese has reported intensively on the civilian toll, from the protesters gunned down during early anti-coup mass protests to villagers uprooted and slaughtered in military offensives.

Now, on the coup anniversary, RFA is looking at how the military treats its own.

In the past year, the junta has enforced conscription of men aged under 35, sometimes snatching people off the streets to fill the military’s depleted ranks, prompting legions of young adults to flee abroad.

Even career soldiers and their families have gotten a raw deal. Soldiers with decades of service and poor health have been denied retirement. Families of soldiers who died on the battlefield have been denied pensions. And rubbing salt into the wounds, Min Aung Hlaing’s son runs a mandatory life insurance scheme for military personnel that is accused of failing to pay out to bereaved families.

In addition, former and current soldiers say they are coerced into buying shares in military-run conglomerates. They say annual dividend payments that were customary pre-coup have dried up.

While the sufferings of soldiers may pale next to the abuses and hardships inflicted on the general population, this special report puts the spotlight on the less-advertised victims of the coup – its own rank and file. RFA/SP